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Ecological Niches: Linking Classical and Contemporary Approaches
Jonathan M. Chase,Mathew A. Leibold +1 more
- 01 Jul 2003
1.3K
TL;DR: Jonathan M. Chase and Mathew A. Leibold argue that the niche is an ideal tool with which to unify disparate research and theoretical approaches in contemporary ecology and develop a framework for understanding niches that is flexible enough to include a variety of small- and large-scale processes.
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Abstract: Why do species live where they live? What determines the abundance and diversity of species in a given area? What role do species play in the functioning of entire ecosystems? All of these questions share a single core concept - the ecological niche. Although the niche concept has fallen into disfavour among ecologists in recent years, Jonathan M. Chase and Mathew A. Leibold argue that the niche is an ideal tool with which to unify disparate research and theoretical approaches in contemporary ecology. Chase and Leibold define the niche as including both what an organism needs from its environment and how that organism's activities shape its environment. Drawing on the theory of consumer-resource interactions, as well as its graphical analysis, they develop a framework for understanding niches that is flexible enough to include a variety of small- and large-scale processes, from resource competition, predation and stress to community structure, biodiversity and ecosystem function. Chase and Leibold's synthetic approach should interest ecologists from a wide range of subdisciplines.
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Citations
•Dissertation
Patrones de diversidad de especies leñosas en los bosques españoles a diferentes escalas espaciales: efectos de las perturbaciones selvícolas y otros factores ambientales y de paisaje
Emilia Martín Queller
- 21 Dec 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated the factors and potential underlying ecological processes that explain forest biodiversity patterns in Spain, mainly focusing on the species richness of woody plants in central Spain, and placed special emphasis on the assessment of the role of silvicultural treatments as a potential factor explaining those patterns.
1
Non-random distribution across habitat types in sympatric, hardly catchable small mammals at a mountainous site in central Italy
Giovanni Amori,Osvaldo Locasciulli,Luca Luiselli +2 more
- 01 Mar 2011
TL;DR: It is suggested that the observed pattern reflects mainly habitat checkerboards, with species being associated with different biotic and abiotic features of the sites which leads to less niche overlap than expected by chance.
1
Trade-offs in response to environmental constraints among strains of Scenedesmus dimorphus - eScholarship
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TL;DR: Strains that grew the fastest and reached the highest density at steady state tended to be least affected by light limitation, phosphorus limitation, increased salinity, and switching to ammonium as the nitrogen source, which may suggest an absence of functional constraints in S. dimorphus that limit intraspecific variation in response to several important environmental factors, nutrients and energy availability.
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References
•Book
Resource competition and community structure
David Tilman
- 01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: This book builds a mechanistic, resource-based explanation of the structure and functioning of ecological communities and explores such problems as the evolution of "super species," the differences between plant and animal community diversity patterns, and the cause of plant succession.
5.9K
Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes
Imre Lakatos
- 01 Jan 1976
TL;DR: For centuries knowledge meant proven knowledge, proven either by the power of the intellect or by the evidence of the senses as discussed by the authors. But the notion of proven knowledge was questioned by the sceptics more than two thousand years ago; but they were browbeaten into confusion by the glory of Newtonian physics.
5.8K
Are there general laws in ecology
TL;DR: It is argued that ecology has numerous laws in this sense of the word, in the form of widespread, repeatable patterns in nature, but hardly any laws that are universally true.
The Niche Concept Revisited: Mechanistic Models and Community Context
TL;DR: The niche concept is reviewed using “mechanistic” models of community theory to identify two distinct components; the “impact” niche describing instantaneous per—capita effects of species on the environment and the "requirement" niche describing the responses of species to the environment.
697
Who rules in science? : an opinionated guide to the wars
James Robert Brown
- 01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: In this article, the role of reason in science has been discussed and discussed in the context of science with a social agenda, and the role role of science in the Democratization of science is discussed.
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